[136]
But to return to the question of the vindication of the public rights, which
the priests themselves have always adapted not only to their own ceremonies,
but also to the commands of the people. You have a statement in your
records, that Caius Cassius the censor consulted the pontifical college
about dedicating the statue of Concord, and that Marcus Aemilius, the
Pontifex Maximus, answered him on behalf of the college, that unless the
Roman people had appointed him by name to superintend that business, it did
not appear to them that the statue could properly be consecrated. What more?
When Licinia,—a vestal virgin, a woman of the highest rank, and
invested with the most holy of all priesthoods,—in the consulship
of Titus Flamininus and Quintus Metellus, had dedicated an altar, and a
little chapel, and a cushion at the foot of the sacred rock; did not Sextus
Julius the praetor refer that matter to this college, in
obedience to the authority of the senate? when Publius Scaevola, the
Pontifex Maximus, answered on behalf of the college, “that what
Licinia, the daughter of Caius, had dedicated in a public place without the
authority of the people, did not appear to be holy.” And with what
impartiality and with what diligence the senate annulled that act, you will
easily see from the words of the resolution of the senate. Read the
resolution of the senate. [The resolution of the senate is read.]
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